CES 2026: How AI Is Reshaping Customer Experience Without Losing the Human Element

CES has never been short on bold AI claims. This year, the conversation around AI felt more grounded than in years past. Less about what might be possible, and more about what actually is.

Across leaders from StitchFix, Reddit, Mejuri, and Vannadium, a consistent message emerged. The teams seeing traction are designing systems that elevate the human experience, deliver tangible value, and respect the complexity of customer trust. 

Here are four themes that stood out.

1. Customer Experience Needs a North Star That Is Not Efficiency

Efficiency, cost savings, and automation matter but they are no longer differentiators. They are table stakes.

StitchFix offered one of the most concrete examples with the demo of StitchFix Vision, an AI-powered visualization experience that allows clients to see themselves styled in shoppable outfits. The technology itself is sophisticated, involving multimodal pipelines and autonomous decision-making across multiple systems. But what stood out was how the brand is measuring success.  

“For us, the North Star is really client satisfaction… for every client that gets a Vision image, we ask, do you like the image?” Noah Zamansky, VP of Client Experience and Product at StitchFix 

If the answer is no, the system captures why. That feedback loop directly improves future experiences. Conversion, efficiency, and cost metrics still matter, but they come after confidence, relevance, and satisfaction.

2. Governance Is a Growth Enabler

While everyone is optimistic about agentic systems, it was equally clear-eyed about the risks of unchecked autonomy, especially in marketing and advertising environments.

Jyoti, VP of Product at Reddit, emphasized that autonomy and control must scale together. Different customers and brands require different levels of autonomy and one-size-fits-all systems break down quickly. Creative generation, in particular, surfaced as one of the most complex areas to automate. “Anything…which has a very aesthetic component, is complex to automate…we need human in the loop for QA.”

Rick Gilchrist, CEO of Vanadium, reinforced this point from a data and compliance perspective. “You have to trust your data…if you don’t have something that’s verifying source origin, that’s giving credibility around those data inputs, it becomes problematic.”

The move toward agentic AI increases the need for governance and centers of excellence. Trust, brand safety, and regulatory confidence are not constraints on innovation. Clear guardrails around those items are what allow agentic AI to scale.

3. The Most Effective Agentic AI Still Puts Humans First

One of the stronger themes was that agentic AI is most powerful when it supports human expertise rather than attempting to replace it.

Courtney Hawkins, SVP of Global Retail at Mejuri, discussed how physical retail remains deeply human, even as AI becomes more embedded behind the scenes. Customers still come into stores to connect, experience products, and receive guidance from a real person. Where AI shows promise is in supporting frontline teams through better clienteling and faster, more personalized employee training.

As she noted, retailers face a structural challenge with part-time workforces and high turnover. Agentic systems can help employees ramp faster and feel more confident without turning the in-store experience into something automated.

This human-first framing also showed up strongly in StitchFix’s approach. Noah Zamansky was explicit about where AI stops and people remain essential.

“Clients really want to connect with a brand that resonates with them emotionally…the humans, our stylists, can really deliver that empathy in a way that the AI can’t.”

Rather than viewing AI as a replacement for stylists, StitchFix uses it to remove operational friction so stylists can focus on creativity, empathy, and trust. 

4. Consumer Participation Is Emerging as a Digital Experience Advantage

A more subtle theme emerged around how digital customer experiences are evolving. Brands continue to move away from optimizing isolated conversion moments and toward designing experiences that help customers imagine outcomes and feel involved in the journey.

StitchFix Vision captured this shift succinctly. “It’s no longer just shopping. It’s actually imagining and visualizing yourself in the outfits and it’s a new experience.”

AI-generated imagery may not be new, but the way it is being applied is changing how customers engage with digital experiences. Customers are increasingly participating in shaping the outcome of their experiences in real time. 

This pattern shows up consistently in practice and aligns with a well-established behavioral principle known as the IKEA Effect. When customers have a hand in creating the result, perceived value increases while perceived risk decreases. Experiences like dynamic bundles and product customization, from Build-A-Bear to Sephora’s foundation and brush pairing, work because participation creates psychological ownership, and ownership strengthens commitment to the decision.

As agentic systems mature, they make it possible to scale this sense of involvement digitally without adding friction. Visualization tools, adaptive recommendations, and preference-driven experiences turn digital touchpoints into moments of participation rather than persuasion.

Looking Ahead

CES 2026 continued to make one thing clear. Agentic AI is already influencing how experiences are designed, delivered, and measured. But that does not mean every team needs to have everything figured out today. Many are still moving from concepts to real-world application, and that is exactly where most meaningful progress starts.

The teams that will pull ahead are not the ones automating the fastest or the most but are the ones making steady progress toward operationalizing AI in ways that deepen trust and make experiences feel more human, not less.

If you are thinking through how this applies to your own digital experiences and want a sounding board, we would love to connect. Our leaders who moderated panels and spent time at CES, Gwen Hammes and Samantha McClure, are always open to conversations about where teams are experimenting, where they are stuck, and what practical next steps could look like.